Frannie-May's Trip to Amelia Island

By Claire Burbank

Frannie-May Spiro is not looking forward to February vacation. All of her friends are going somewhere fun, and she has to stay in a little town in Connecticut. One day, her mom has a surprise for her and her siblings. They find out they're going to Amelia Island! Except there's one problem...a certain someone named Joel was coming along. Frannie

• Language: English
• Publisher: Claire Burbank
• Release date: Dec 13, 2020
• ISBN: 9781949701111

Claire Burbank

Claire Burbank is 12 years old & lives with her family in Nottingham. I always knew I had a passion for writing. In any free time I get, I think, "I want to write!" There are three reasons I do: 1. It's really fun to tell my own fictional stories with detail, drama & comedy. 2. I want to publish my books so the world can read them and enjoy them. 3. I want people to know the important issue of bullying but have a good time learning about it in a fun way It all started back in third grade when I made a little book about bullying. (Available on iTunes, just search Claire Burbank) It was about this girl named Amelda and she gets bullied. She gets teased about her appearance and how she was different from the others. I had watched many movies about bullying and had seen some people get bullied and didn't even realize it. I wanted to make up for all of those times I didn't stand up for the other person and those times I might have been apart of the teasing by writing a little book. It probably took me about ten minutes to write this little 7 paged picture book. I brought it to my classroom and showed it to my guidance counselor, who was the person it was dedicated to. She recognized my care for bullying and put it on the school website. When it was taken down for the next piece of news to be shown, I wanted people to keep viewing it. So, I decided to publish it along with the help of my dad and his many IT director friends. It was a long process, but we ended up publishing it on iTunes, and I wanted to keep writing. So, I decided to make and publish more books about bullying, realistic fiction or not so realistic fiction. I currently have published 9 books, I have worked really hard on all of these books, I appreciate it and hope it helps Stop Bullying.

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Other Titles by Claire Burbank

Bullying (The Bully Book)

Claire Burbank Book Collection V1

Claire Burbank Book Collection V2

Claire Burbank Book Collection V3

Five Crows

Sassy Tomatoes

Mo Lemont

Loop of Dreams

Magically Acquainted

I’m Not Invited

The Lost Tribes of Masyarakat

1

Iris and Bev's

My jealousy of everyone going on vacation was all I could think about the first few days of February break, but little did I know some of the biggest changes in my life would happen that very week.

Usually I was awakened by my little brother screaming every day…and it was no different that early Saturday morning. Rage fumed inside my body, my tired, cranky mood encouraged by five-year-old Winston’s cries of joy.

UGH! I groaned, continuously slamming my head into my soft pillow.

Not only did my annoying younger sibling wake me up at seven in the morning with his screaming, he also disturbed everyone at two in the morning with his loud, terrifying crying.

Trying to fall back asleep was almost as hard as attempting to kick my older sister Mary out of the bathroom…which is exactly what I had to do fifteen minutes later.

Hurry up! I demanded, knocking on the door. "How long does it take to get ready for brunch?"

Mary opened the bathroom door, only half of her face covered in make-up. As long as I want it to.

I had always despised that smug look on her face, and it had only gotten worse throughout her teenage years.

Good morning, sweetie, my mom greeted tiredly, passing me as I slumped down the staircase.

Good morning, SWEETIE! Winston mimicked, stomping up the stairs.

I rolled my eyes, realizing Mom had stopped trying to make his imitations go away.

Hi, I replied, continuing down the stairs. Oh, and by the way, Mary’s taking a million years in the bathroom again.

Am not! she screamed childishly, opening the door with a curler in her hair.

Also, Winston, if you don’t stop screaming in the mornings, I’m going to tell the Naughty Monster to come get you, I threatened.

Naughty Monster was a character I made up to stop him from being bad or just plain annoying.

No!!! Not the Naughty Monster! he cried, hiding behind our mom.

Frannie May, she angrily scolded. I told you to stop bringing up Naughty Monster!

She turned to Winston. But seriously, if you keep screaming, I’m going to have to make some calls.

Humph! he whimpered, crossing his arms.

If I didn’t know that he would forget about it two minutes later, I wouldn’t have said it. I’m not a monster!

A wild and ferocious five-year-old, a leisurely and audacious seventeen-year-old and a punctual and organized fourteen-year-old all piled in the car an hour later, taking the full hour to get ready. Obviously, I was the punctual and organized one, taking my sweet time to match up with my slow-paced siblings.

I buckled myself and my brother’s car seat in as Mary texted her way to mom’s gray-blue vehicle.

Mary, do you want to drive? my mom asked my older sister sarcastically, realizing she was obviously distracted.

Mom, you don’t understand, there’s some serious drama going on, Mary answered, her eyes glued to her phone. Billy and Jade might break up.

Billy and Jade are gonna break up?! I questioned with sarcastic concern. The sky is falling, the world’s gonna end!

Oh, be quiet, Fran Fran, Mary answered, maintaining her focus towards her phone.

I told you to stop calling me that! I growled as the car began to move.

Girls, stop it, my mom ordered, annoyed by our bickering.

Girls, stop it! Winston imitated, making hand puppets.

I sighed. It became mysteriously quiet…until I heard a stifled giggle from my left.

Winston had been covering his mouth for a few seconds, his eyes watering from his suppressed laughter. I assumed that it was because of a childish joke he thought of, until I realized something… The buckle to his car seat had no seat belt in it.

Winston! I shouted, reaching for his seat belt. That’s not funny!

My annoyance increased as my little brother began to fight me off with his strangely sharp fingernails.

Ow! I screamed, touching the scratch on my face. Winston Murphy, that is not funny!

What is going on?! my mom asked, her temper becoming shorter the more we yelled.

Winston unbuckled his seat belt and won’t let me fix it! I replied, struggling to avoid his hitting and scratching.

What? Mom bellowed, her rage and shock distracting her from driving.

Mom, keep your eyes on the road! Mary exclaimed, her concern focused on our mother’s driving rather than high school drama.

The car swerved across the one-way, dirt road.

Winston, I’m serious this time! I shouted, unbuckling my seat belt to buckle his.

I grabbed the safety strap and wrestled with his buckle, finally succeeding in protecting my stubborn sibling.

Okay! I sighed, relieved. We’re all good now.

Oh no! Mary cried in a troubled manner.

What? my mom and I questioned apprehensively.

This is awful! my older sister added with a distressed tone in her voice.

Seriously, what happened? I asked anxiously.

Billy and Jade broke up, she answered dramatically.

Ugh! I groaned, annoyed yet relieved.

About twenty minutes later, we arrived at Iris and Bev’s, a brunch place a couple towns over. The small building was next to several other small restaurants and shops, which were adjacent to connected streets. We’d been to Iris and Bev’s many times, making it sort of a stay-cation tradition for the Spiro’s.

My mom, siblings, and I entered the petite, diner-like brunch place, excited to eat delicious breakfast food.

The employees of Iris and Bev’s were all girls in their twenties, besides Isabella, who was Iris’s daughter. Isabella was slightly older than my mom and was the current manager of the small restaurant.

There were colorful and inspirational posters hung up on the walls, along with floral curtains opened over several windows to let